There was a "blanket failure" of Ozark school employees to properly handle a pornographic picture, reportedly of a juvenile student that was tweeted by another student, according to a letter from the Christian County Prosecutor.

Prosecutor Amy Fite wrote the letter in response to an investigation conducted by the Missouri State Highway Patrol into whether Ozark school administrators and a school resource officer mishandled child pornography earlier this year.

According to her letter, when staff responded to the situation, they made several missteps, including downloading the photo, distributing it to other staff members, saving it to a school computer and even printing it out.

However, Fite found it was not ill intent, but a failure of school protocol that allowed a pornographic photograph reportedly of a student to circulate among students and staff. According to her letter, she will not be filing criminal charges.

The superintendent of Ozark schools, Kevin Patterson, called the incident a "procedural error" and said changes in protocol have already been made and more are soon to come.

"We did find chinks in our armor," he said.

From now on, a school resource officer who has experience with child crime will specifically handle these cases, Patterson said, and in September the school district will convene a meeting with lawyers, the prosecutor, local law enforcement, and others to fully reevaluate its policies.

Patterson said no employees were dismissed because of the incident, but some have received individualized training.

The only person previously named in the investigation — Kevin Mayes — resigned from his job as a school resource officer while the investigation was ongoing. According to the prosecutor's letter, some of the mishandling of the photo took place after Mayes was assigned and responded to the matter.

For example, Mayes initially did not seize an employee's phone that had the downloaded photo despite being told to do so, the letter said.

Mayes also printed out a picture of the reported child pornography to attach to his report, according to the letter.

The former school resource officer was recently rehired by the school district as a janitor.

Patterson said he got flak from parents about rehiring Mayes, but the superintendent defended the decision and has met with parents about it.

"Kevin's been a great employee for the Ozark School District for many, many years," Patterson said of Mayes.

And for as many negative reactions from rehiring Mayes, Patterson said he's received the same amount of positive reactions.

All around town — in church, at a store, in a restaurant — Patterson said people have stopped him to express their support of Mayes. Yes, Mayes made mistakes, Patterson said, but overall has had a positive influence on students over the years.

The News-Leader has requested the full investigative report from the highway patrol, but it was not immediately available.